Dodging Kelly
by SalSassy
Summary: A/U!The deterioration of Mibbs, hope of Slibbs, and growth of their children-past and present.


The strawberry blonde strode into her kitchen in desperate need of caffeine. She felt the presence of other people in her house. She wasn't let down when she walked into the kitchen and saw various members of NCIS scattered around her kitchen. While they talked amongst themselves, she grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and said, "Do I even want to know?" Gibbs admired her figure while her back was turned. "We are targets right now and so are our homes….yours isn't." Hollis turned around and sarcastically said, "Yeah sure, make yourself at home." They all heard a door slamming upstairs and Gibbs chuckled, "She's mad at me." Hollis smirked, "Oh, I know. She told me." Hollis started to grab ingredients out of the refrigerator when Jackson came flying into the kitchen on his scooter. "JJ" Hollis warned in a motherly tone; the almost 10-year-old stopped immediately, "I'm sorry mom". He looked around the kitchen and happily ran over to his father, "Dad, what are you doing here? You here to take me to school?" Gibbs ruffled his mini-twin's hair as Hollis responded, "Buddy, Dad is working a case today but maybe next time." That seemed to placate him, but he looked around once more to some unfamiliar faces. "Dad, I know Tim, Z, Tony, Leon and Alex but who are they?" he asked looking at the newer members of his dad's team.

Gibbs held him close with one arm and pointed to the team. "That's Ellie, Nick, Jacqueline, and Kasie." "Guys this is my son Jackson and soon you'll see my daughter Dodger." As if on cue, the 20-year-old stomped into the kitchen and glared at her father. "Daddy, why can't I do it?" "Because I don't trust crowds that big." "You don't trust anything. You're so paranoid." "Wait until you become a parent." She stared her father down before smugly saying, "And you wonder why I want to enlist. I bet that I'll have your trust then." Hollis was finishing up breakfast, but managed to say, "You are not enlisting. It's way too dangerous." Dodger started to sulk, "But you and dad both did and-" "And nothing young lady. We had our fair share of close calls because we made that choice" Hollis started; she looked at Gibbs, "If it makes you that nervous, then I'll go. For crying out loud, she just wants to have a charity concert to raise money for the VA. What's the harm in that?" Gibbs was getting frustrated and rubbed his temples, "I said no." Hollis raised her voice as well, "Tough, because I said yes. This is not a dictatorship! The both of us are their parents. You can run your team, but you don't run me or this household. Dodger will put on her concert and I will be in the audience!"

Without breaking the stormy eye contact with Gibbs, she addressed both children "Grab your lunches and your breakfast. We leave in 5 minutes." They obeyed and Hollis waited until they headed to the car to move closer to Gibbs. She crossed her arms over her chest, "Is there something that you want to tell me? Is there a reason why you don't want her at the VA? Does this reason explain why all of you are in my house?" Gibbs sat stone-faced, so Hollis decided to ask someone else. "Alex, what's going on?" Before Alex could get a word out, Gibbs spat out "You said that I run my team and she is a part of my team. She is not your sister-in-law right now. I have my case under control and if you would stop undermining me, then I'd have our daughter under control as well." Everyone was used to them locking horns besides the newer members of the team. They were a mix of intrigued and frightened but remained quiet…everyone but Sloan. She spoke up, earning a dirty look from Hollis, "If I may interject, part of the reason the VA is a bad idea is because your daughter wants an outside concert, which compromises her security. Also, this case has raised threats against all of us and there's a possibility that she will become a target because of who her parents are."

"First of all, you may not interject in a conversation regarding our children. Second, if her security was that much in danger, then he'd have made sure that we were all on lockdown" Hollis bit out before turning to Gibbs once again. "LJ, when you're done lying to me, then we can agree on what the kids can and can't do. If your case has something to do with that VA, tell me right now." "Holly, I can't tell you anything right now." Hollis scoffed and walked off, "So get out and find another place to work on your case." Hollis slammed the door behind her; Gibbs let out a long sigh, "Quinn, can you go to the concert with Hollis?" Quinn stood up and went to the coffee pot, "Of course, I'll be there but you need to tell her something before she blows a gasket." Vance cleared his throat and motioned for Gibbs to follow him into the living room.

"Gibbs, Quinn is right. At some point you will need to tell Hollis that her ex-husband and Dodger's biological father is one of our main suspects." "We don't know that. You don't know how he destroyed the both of them. He broke Holly and abandoned Dodger!" Gibbs yelled with sorrow in his eyes. Everyone knew in the moment that Gibbs started yelling, he was probably still in love with Hollis. That thought broke one heart in particular—Jack Sloane.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee########################################################DDDDDDDDDDDD

"So, your mom said yes but your dad said no? You want me to ask my dad?" Kayla Vance asked her best friend. Dodger shook her head no, "My dad is holding something in. The last time he acted like this was when he and my mom split up when JJ was 2." "You think they're getting back together?" Dodger shrugged, "I don't know, maybe. I'm not real sure if they should, remember when your mom got them back together?" Kayla hated to think about her mom sometimes because it brought up her death. She smiled and nodded yes. "It was when they found out that JJ had that heart problem." Dodger felt her eyes well up, "He was just learning how to walk, then boom—he was in the hospital. We were all so depressed, yet your mom managed to get them back together. It went bad when we went back to Stillwater. I don't think that he was ready for my grandpa to tell us all about Kelly and Shannon. I don't get the big deal honestly—my mom and I have the same birthday as Kelly. We'd been including her in our parties for a few years by then." Kayla put a hand on Dodger's shoulder, "I speak from experience when I say that even the most precious thoughts you have about someone you lost, can turn into a complete breakdown. I think for him, he suppressed it for so long, that it was common practice. You ever stop to think that you and your mom may have been the only people to ever want to know about the good times that he remembers? The simple caring could be what overwhelmed him and caused him to panic. Being a loner is easier than letting people in."

"He was pissed about the concert. He doesn't want me to do it." Kayla chuckled, "You are planning a loud concert with special effects around a bunch of vets who probably have PTSD. They may not react the way you want because they don't want to feel like charity cases. I get where his concern is." Kayla looked at Dodger asking, "You didn't threaten to enlist again, did you?" Dodger burst out laughing, "It seems to be the only way to get one of them to cave." They locked their arms together and said simultaneously, "Neither one of us would make it through boot camp." Unbeknownst to them, there was someone watching their every move through a sniper's rifle.


End file.
